In Ethiopia, waste turns to energy

The Ethiopian government has recently led the inauguration of its power plant that converts waste into energy, a report read.

Dubbed as Reppie, the African News said in its report that the energy facility is set to take 1,400 tons of garbage daily, which is enough to provide electricity needs of at least 30 percent of its household.

“The Reppie project is just one component of Ethiopia’s broader strategy to address pollution and embrace renewable energy across all sectors of the economy,” said Zerubabel Getachew, Ethiopia’s deputy permanent representative to the U.N. in Nairobi, in a report.

He added that they hope that it “will serve as a model for other countries in the region, and around the world.”

The said power plant is located in Addis Ababa, where a landslide of garbage killed more than a hundred people. The said landslide, which took place in 2017, reportedly burried makeshift homes that were located near the open-dumping facility.

Reports said that the construction of the said energy facility led to the unfortunate landslide of garbage in Koshe, which has been serving the rapidly rising population of Ethiopia’s capital, where there are about.

The Ethiopian government, according to its president Mulatu Teshome, “has been investing extensively in hydro power, geothermal, wind energy and now biomass to boost the manufacturing sector with a supply of clean, renewable energy.”

“In waste-to-energy incineration plants, rubbish is burned in a combustion chamber. The resulting heat is used to boil water until it turns to steam, which drives a turbine generator that produces electricity,” the U.N. website explained in a report.

The United Nations said the such effort – turning waste into energy – is a first in Africa.

The facility, which is the result of a partnership between the Government of Ethiopia and a consortium of international companies, according to the United Nations.

US Aid said the Ethiopian government “has set ambitious goals to become a middle-income country by 2025, which includes aggressive power generation and connections targets.”

“The Government of Ethiopia is committed to transitioning to a middle-income country by 2025, and electrification plays a key role in that plan,” said US Aid.